2023 Canadian GP Qualifying Update and Tips – JP
2023 Canadian GP Qualifying Update
After nailing four winners from five tips in his Spanish GP raceday update James Punt is hoping for more of the same in Montreal. His 2023 Canadian GP qualifying update is below.
2023 Canadian GP Qualifying
The free practice sessions have not been a lot of use as a form guide so far. FP1 was red flagged and then cancelled after just 5 minutes running, due to the circuits CCTV failing. The extended FP2 session had its own red flag after Hulkenberg’s car caught fire. It was a messy session with different teams doing their hot laps at different times on an evolving track.
The last five minutes saw the heavens opening and the track undrivable. Today’s FP3 was held in wet conditions with the rain coming and going. In the end, it finished with Verstappen 0.291 ahead of Leclerc and both over a second clear of the rest of the field.
Track Suits Ferrari
The track is suiting Ferrari, wet or dry, and Leclerc looks to be the biggest threat to a pole position for Verstappen. Carlos Sainz was 5th but he crashed after setting his best time and missed a lot of the session. He is usually very good in the wet and he is not without a chance later, but it will have rattled his confidence.
Alonso was third quickest. The Aston Martin still seems to be lacking straight line speed and even in the wet that matters here. Mercedes had been 1st and 2nd in FP2 yesterday but in the cooler wet conditions they are in trouble. They struggle to get heat into their tyres which helps with tyre deg in the races but it is not what you want in cool conditions and it’s even worse in cool and wet conditions.
Norris Happy With Rain
The McLaren is very good at getting heat into the tyres and Norris is strong in wet conditions. Sadly, their car is not best suited to the track lay out so he is less likely to have the kind of result he had in qualifying at Barcelona last time out, but he is a dark horse. He was 151.00 this time last night but in now just 51.00 as the bookies are aware of the threat.
Tomorrow’s race is expected to be dry and this leaves the engineers with a bit of a dilemma. Set the car up for wet conditions and qualify well, but slow in the race, or sacrifice qualifying pace for a better race set up.
Mercedes May Focus On Race
I suspect Mercedes will just think about the race, that is their strength in any case, while Red Bull and Ferrari will try and find a workable compromise. Some teams may choose to split strategies between the drivers.
Verstappen has been the fastest qualifier for the last three races but he may face some genuine competition today. Ferrari got pole position at Baku and this track has got similar demands for the car. It looks like Verstappen vs. Leclerc for pole. Fernando will be in the hunt for a second row and after that it is up for grabs.
Leclerc looks the value bet.
